querries about enamels

QUOTE: Originally posted by jinithith2 1.can enamel be thinned with lacquer thinner without it melting the plastic on contact? Yep, I do it all the time. I prefer straight laquer thinner to straight mineral spirits as a thinner. Recently however, I took SaltyDog's idea of mixing laquer thinner and mineral spirits half and half and using that to thin my enamels. They still dry really quickly, but I feel like they tend to level themselves out a bit better. 2.and do enamels look shiny when dried? Gloss ones do, but not flat ones. If you need gloss and don't have it, cover the flat with Future. 3.what are some of the advantages of an enamel over acrylic? Enamels stick to the model better than acrylics, and don't pull off from masking. You don't get tip dry with enamels, because they don't dry as quickly, so you don't have that spattering problem you get with acrylics. You do have to use some more volatile chemicals with enamels however, so it's a trade-off.

as i mentioned in another post, im very intrigued bout this.... i feel that doing this would make a paint simialr to tamiya synth lacquers.... and they r basically modified enamels ( they just use a different thinner)
i think u will be right if u mist on the first few coats and use a decent primer....
ive also heard that this will work with tamiya acryls too...
will be tryng this vry soon, as enamel drying times r ridiculous!!!
will be watching this post like a hawk, and ill let u guyus know how i go with me 'experiments'!

OK, enamels are not necessarily shiny when dried. Just like any other paints they come in flat and gloss. Laquer thinner does not melt models on contact. (perhaps mod should sticky that.)

IMO, enamels are better than acrylics because I feel they go on smoother and are far more durable than acrylics.

QUOTE: Laquer thinner does not melt models on contact. (perhaps mod should sticky that.)

On contact, no. Throw an old instrument panel in a little bottle of laquer thinner and watch the detail go away though. Laquer thinner will etch the surface of styrene and given time it will dissolve it.

QUOTE: IMO, enamels are better than acrylics because I feel they go on smoother and are far more durable than acrylics.

IMO that depends on the paint. I've seen some really lousy enamels that spray much worse than acrylics. On the other hand I've seen some really lousy acrylics that spray worse than enamels.

I personally prefer acrylics and the bulk of my painting is done with them these days. I do usually spray a thin coat of enamel or laquer primer before using acrylic, or sometimes spray the base coat for multiple-color schemes using enamel and then use acrylic for the rest. The A-10 I'm working on now was sprayed with light ghost gray enamel (dark ghost gray in the cockpit) for the primer and base color. The other two colors of the camo were sprayed with acrylic and all detailing was done with acrylic.

I prefer enamels because of all the performance charateristics mentioned already and also; a BIG factor for me is color availability and FS matching. For example, I can simply pull the specific color right off the shelf with the Testors /Model Master line. For any project using enamels I just prep and paint. Where as acrylics, I have to substitue, mix colors (Tamiya) and / or sufice with a color that comes close. Having mastered airbrushing enamels, I would naturally advocate them, however; with some experimentation using Tamiya...I really have grown to like them alot. I have gotten great results using 91% alcohol or Laquer thinner with Tamiya and a product called *T.R.P.S. (turpentine replacement paint solvent) with the enamels. I used Tamiya acrylics for the interior and enamels on the final camo scheme for my latest 1/72nd scale F-15C.

[quote[Laquer thinner does not melt models on contact. (perhaps mod should sticky that.)